Nick Eubank wrote: > Hello All, > > > Found an odd behavior I'd never known about today, not sure if it's a bug > or known. Python 3.4.4 (anaconda).
This is a feature. Old versions of Python did not have True and False, so they were added in a compatible way. > True, False, 0, 1 can all be used as dictionary keys. > > But Apparently True and 1 hash to the same item and False and 0 hash to > the same item, so they can easily overwrite (which I spent a while banging > my head over today). > > In other words: > > In[1]: > d = {True: 'a', False: 'b'} > d[0] = 'z' > d[False] > > Out[1]: > 'z' > > I understand that True and False are sub-types of ints, but it's not clear > to me why (i.e. certainly didn't feel intuitive) that they would be > treated the same as keys. > > Relatedly, if this is a desired behavior, any advice one how best to work > with dictionaries when one wants "True" and 1 to be different? I'm working > on a function that accepts arguments that may be "True" or 1 (meaning very > different things) and am seeking a pythonic solution... The pythonic solution is "don't do this". The == operator cannot discriminate between 0, 0.0, and False, or 1, 1.0, and True. True and False are singletons, so you can check identity with x is True or x is False A type check will also work: type(x) == bool isinstance(x, bool) # bool cannot be subclassed If you provide some context we may be able to come up with an alternative approach that fits your use case. -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list